The Difference Of A Turn of A Screw "Reis discovered how to reproduce musical tones, but he did no more.

He could sing through his apparatus but he could not talk. Reis used intermittent current and Bell used continuous current. Under such circumstances it is impossible to hold that what Reis did was in anticipation of the discovery of Bell. To follow Reis is to fail but follow Bell is to succeed. The difference between the two is just the difference between success and failure. If Reis had kept on he might have found out the way to succeed, but he stopped and failed. Bell took up his work and carried it on to a successful result." Case closed! The above is an excerpt from the judgement passed by the US Supreme Court in a case where Reis had claimed that he was the one who had invented the telephone and not Alexander Graham Bell as we all know. The only thing that Bell did was to turn a simple screw, one quarter of a turn, to transform the interrupted current into continuous current capable of reproducing human speech. Poor Reis, nobody even remembers that he also tried. Infact there are many more such as Dolbear, Edison, McDonough and Gray who held prior patents for the telephone. I bet, you have never heard all these names. Years later if you are not careful your name will be among the Dolbears and Grays of this world. Bell crossed the finishing line! Did You Know? That the Wright brothers only added movable flaps to the edges of the wings so that the pilot could control them and maintain the plane's equilibrium. It was reckoned to them as success. Many before them had come so close to succeed in making an aeroplane, even Leonardo da Vinci had tried in the 1480s. The Wright brothers crossed the finishing line. Thomas Edison made ten thousand failed experiments in order to make a bulb. In the process, he discovered ten thousand ways of how not to make a bulb, but one. His legacy of imagination and stick-to-itiveness is what has inspired General Electric to what it is today. Edison crossed the finishing line. Staying Power One of the greatest modern masters of sports psychology is Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea Football Club coach. He transformed average players at Porto into Euro champions. He is an example of what one can achieve if they have the right motivation. Mourinho never played soccer at the highest level. The closest he came to high level football was when he worked as Bobby Robson's interpreter at Barcelona when Robson was coaching Barcelona. He has achieved back to back titles in the English Premiership, again with a team of average players. I know some people might say Chelsea's success is down to Roman Abramovich's (Chelsea owner) money. Did he have money bags at Porto? No. Can money buy success? The same cannot be said about the flop of the Galactico project at Real Madrid, which boasts of the creme de la creme of football. They spent millions on assembling one of the most accomplished football teams in the world with a galaxy of the best footballers. It was a disaster ! The difference is in the mental strength of the players. The Chelsea players have a mind to finish, playing out of their skins for 90 minutes. You might have a small business, average skills, little financial resources, but if you have a positive mental attitude, you will be amazed with what you can achieve. You need staying power, a never say die spirit, high emotional threshold and persistent focus to cross the finishing line. The Talisman of Mental Attitude Napoleon Hill wrote about the Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) and Negative Mental Attitude (NMA). These are two sides of the same coin. The PMA can give you a breakthrough and the NMA can shipwreck your dreams. Once you master the use of each one you became a master of your own destiny. The difference between the successful and those who are not is in how each one uses the positive mental attitude or is overcome by the negative mental attitude. As I write now , an hour ago I was playing pool in the complex where we are staying. I haven't practised for three months, but I beat everyone and was "crowned" the Complex Pool Champ. I just told myself before I started that I am going to beat them all. I played like a champion and became a champion. Thus, success is determined by what and how we think! You can decide to see an opportunity where others see a crisis just by developing a mental attitude. The Chinese see political and social hot spots in the Third World as an opportunity to do business, yet the West sees them as high risk. It is one situation but just a different set of responses. It is our mental attitude that makes us cross the finishing line.

The Power of Divine Inspiration Every human being has a homing instinct, which has an affinity for a "god". It is when the human being connects with his/her God that s/he operates in a realm of vast possibilities. I personally believe in Yahweh, the Almighty Creator. The one who began the beginning. The one whose strength is perfected in our weaknesses. The one who makes all things possible to them who believe. The revelation of divine inspiration when coupled with a positive mental attitude makes you unstoppable! I repeat unstoppable. With this knowledge, you can achieve far greater and more than you could ever imagine in spite of any challenges in your way. You begin to see the things which be not as if they were. You speak things into existence. I know this might sound a bit eerie and esoteric for some of you, but it's the plain truth and I have a responsibility to share it with you. You need to connect with your Creator to finish the line in triumph. On The Home Run In most competitive sports such as golf, track athletics, the home stretch is the final 100 meters before the finishing line and the last hole near the Clubhouse in the case of golf. In golf if you have been experiencing bad play, this is where you want to get hole in ones and under-pars to maximize your points. In athletics, you increase the speed to cross the line in full steam especially if there are some cameras. The home run is not the easiest because of fatigue. Many have failed to cross the line. There will be seasons of testing in your life, when what you have worked so hard for seems to be slipping through your fingers. Hang in there, press on towards the prize. You would rather faint after crossing the line than give up now. Do not say you have apprehended it yet, keep pressing on. It's not over until YOU win. If somebody has won it, it's not OVER start again. If YOU have not won, it's not over until its over when YOU have won. If there is a line, which nobody else should cross, it's your finishing line.